LINCOLN, Ill. — Picking up where he left off at the end of 2019, Rico Abreu sailed to victory with the Morrow Brothers Ford MOWA Sprint Car Series in dominating fashion Friday at Lincoln Speedway.
Aboard his familiar ShopRico.com No. 24, Abreu took control of the race on lap two from Paul Nienhiser, eventually holding off Fresno, Calif., native Dominic Scelzi in the final laps.
Scelzi powered forward from his eighth-place starting position to finish second, with Nienhiser completing the podium.
A race slowed by three cautions bunched the field up, allowing them to attempt to catch race leader Abreu, but maneuvering his way through lapped traffic allowed Abreu to pull away from Nienhiser and head toward victory.
Once he broke free from his battle with Nienhiser, Abreu was able to distance himself from the field.
“It’s always fun to come run with these (MOWA) guys here in the Midwest. They’ve got a great series and an awesome group of drivers who run with them,” said Abreu.
Scelzi powered around the top side of the quarter-mile to catch Nienhiser and score a second-place finish in his first series start with the MOWA sprints.
Nienhiser, Shane Stewart, and Zach Daum rounded out the top five.
Brian Lynn won the modified feature and Jake Little topped the Pro Late Model main event.
Andy Baugh won the DII midget feature and Dallas Strauch topped the hornet main.
The finish:
1. Rico Abreu, 2. Dominic Scelzi, 3. Paul Nienhiser, 4. Shane Stewart, 5. Zach Daum, 6. Brian Bell, 7 Kameron Key, 8. Terry Babb, 9. Jacob Patton, 10. Brayton Lynch, 11. Cory Bruns, 12. Corbin Gurley, 13. Steve Short, 14. Colton Fisher, 15. Korey Weyant, 16. Chris Urish, 17. Logan Faucon, 18. Kyle Schuett, 19. Dustin Barks, 20. Jimmy Hurley, 21. Ryan Bunton.